


You Have Witchcraft On Your Lips

by nicalyse



Category: Little Mix (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, First Meetings, Gen, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-31 02:01:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6451078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicalyse/pseuds/nicalyse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are introductions all around, and then Leigh-Anne says, "Jesy wanted to hex him, but it was better to watch you do it."</p><p>Perrie goes still, and Leigh-Anne gives Jade a panicked look. "You are a witch," Jade says, not quite a question. "We can feel your magic."</p><p> </p><p>In which the girls are witches who come together to form a coven.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Have Witchcraft On Your Lips

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thank you to **sunsetmog** for the Britpick and **gentleantics** for looking over this. You're both darlings.

It isn't early, not at all really, but Jesy's brain is still working at half-speed when she emerges from the coffee shop, a large iced latte in hand. She was up well before dawn to drive out to a friend's garden to harvest vervaine for some spellwork, and now she's got an appointment with a repeat client that's going to require more than open eyes. So, coffee.

Jesy finished her tattoo apprenticeship a little more than a year ago, and she's been taking clients of her own since. She loves the work, the art and the permanence and the personal connection that she gets from it. It was the people that really drew her in, and one of those connections led her to begin working her magic into her art. 

She casts on the ink while she works, magic deposited beneath the skin. She uses different spells depending on the nature of the tattoo: spells for calmness and peace, spells for comfort, spells to imbue one with confidence or a general sense of well-being. It's complex magic, and it was difficult and draining when Jesy first began doing it, but it comes naturally to her. More important, it feels right. Jesy learned back in the beginning that the best magic is the magic that feels right.

The client coming in today has become a friend, a girl about Jesy's age working on a half-sleeve in stages, all in grey and black with little hints of deep blue here and there. Jesy has worked spells into each bit she's done, slightly different each time. She certainly won't be able keep it up if she doesn't get some caffeine into her bloodstream.

It's a nice day, breezy, the sun bright and warm, perfect to walk to the shop. Jesy turns the corner at the crossroads just in time to see a girl drop something from her handbag onto the pavement, not pausing as it bounces a couple of feet before coming to rest.

"Hey! Hey, you dropped something," Jesy calls. 

The girl doesn't pause; her steps don't falter. Jesy darts forward to pick up whatever it is from the pavement. It's a trinket, a little brass charm shaped like a bird in flight, nothing too special, but - Jesy feels it immediately - it's imbued with magic.

"Hey!" she calls again. She needs to talk to this girl who's dropping magic in the streets. Ahead of her, the girl's steps quicken, just barely. "Hey! I can feel it," she cries.

The girl's steps falter, but she doesn't stop. Jesy's trotting after her; a woman coming down the pavement in the opposite direction gives her an odd look.

"I do it, too!" Jesy tries.

The girl stops abruptly and turns. She's beautiful, dark eyes and high cheekbones and her natural hair catching the late-morning sunlight and shining like a halo. She waits for Jesy to catch up, pulling her handbag, hooked over her elbow, closer to her body. "You do what exactly?" she asks when Jesy is close enough that they can speak without anyone around hearing.

"Magic," Jesy answers, unhesitating. "I'm a witch.”

The girl smiles then, and she's so fucking beautiful it very nearly hurts. "Me too." She's so immediately open that it makes Jesy's heart stutter a bit.

"I'm Jesy."

"Leigh-Anne."

Jesy holds out the bird charm. "You dropped your luck," she says, because after holding onto it for this long, she's sure of the spell.

Leigh-Anne's gaze drops for just a moment before she meets Jesy's eyes again. "I meant to drop it."

Jesy blinks, but it clicks a moment later. "You drop good luck charms on the street for people to find," she says, a statement, not a question. Leigh-Anne looks back at her, unflinching. "That's fucking brilliant. You're amazing."

Leigh-Anne bursts into startled laughter. "It's just always felt like the right thing to do," she says after a moment.

"Brilliant," Jesy repeats. She pulls her phone out of her back pocket to check the time. "I've an appointment to get to," she says regretfully, "but would you want to get something to eat sometime? Or coffee or lunch or whatever? I love meeting new witches." _And new beautiful women_ she doesn't say.

Leigh-Anne smiles again. Jesy's heart lurches in her chest. "I'd love that."

*

Girls' night out was a really excellent idea.

Though there was a moment when Leigh-Anne was afraid of exactly what was going to happen when Jesy stopped her on the street, they've been nearly inseparable in the weeks since they met. Leigh-Anne hasn't ever met anyone like Jesy, not even in witch circles. She's never felt as in sync with another person.

Girls' night is brilliant, the two of them alternating fruity mixed shots with glasses of water and trips to the dance floor. The DJ is great and the club is just the right amount of crowded, fun without being overwhelming.

"Are you ready for another shot?" Jesy asks, leaning close to her ear so Leigh can hear her. 

"I need to go to the loo."

"You go. I'll order."

Leigh-Anne makes her way to the toilets, smiling at the tall, lovely girl who holds the door when she goes in. 

There's graffiti on the wall of the cubicle, a black sharpie scrawl on the door declaring _you're fucking beautiful_ and a few mostly illegible drunken scribbles. Just above the loo roll are a few lines written in hot pink - it looks suspiciously like lip liner - and Leigh-Anne is halfway through reading it when she realizes.

It's a spell.

It wasn't there earlier when Leigh-Anne came in and used the same cubicle. It's mostly nonsense, three meaningless lines, but for three Latin words slipped in among the rest: _ego sum igni_. It's a self-confidence spell, a subtle one, clearly designed to give someone a little boost, given the wording and where they are.

But being a subtle spell doesn't mean it lacks power; Leigh-Anne has learned that the subtle things often require more skill, and she can feel the power in the words even without speaking them aloud.

She takes out her phone and snaps a photo of the spell. She washes her hands quickly - there's another scrawl on the wall above the bin, the same pink but just three words this time: _quae est lux_.

She hurries out to find Jesy, who's waiting at an empty table with two shots and two cups of water. "There's another witch here," Leigh-Anne tells her, leaned in close. She pulls away and tosses back her shot.

"What are you talking about?"

Leigh-Anne shows Jesy the photo on her phone, explaining what she felt and mentioning the other bit. "Is that all there was?" Jesy asks.

"Well, I didn't search the rest of the loos."

Predictably, probably, Jesy grabs her hand and begins to pull her through the crush of people, the two of them bursting into the loos. There are more spells in each cubicle, each a bit different: _ego sum omnium, ego sum ferox_. They've both been to the loo earlier tonight, but neither of them noticed the spells before. They agree that means the witch responsible is probably still here.

"We should be able to feel her, right?" I can feel you," Leigh-Anne says. She's been able to feel Jesy's magic from the first minute they met, though she'd initially thought the itch between her shoulder blades came from her nervousness at being caught. After it became clear that Jesy understood what she was doing, she'd thought that feeling was caused by how beautiful and wonderful Jesy is. Now she knows how to tell those sensations apart. "We'll find her soon enough if she's still here."

So they dance. They go back out into the crush of bodies, and Leigh-Anne lets herself lose focus a bit, trusting that she'll feel the magic if it's there. Witches who do their spells in Latin aren't exactly common, and she's eager to find this one. She dances with Jesy, the bass thumping through her, sweat prickling at the back of her neck and slipping down her spine.

The work their way nearer the DJ booth in time, and the song has just changed when she feels it, more a tickle between her shoulder blades than an itch, this particular magic, this particular witch. Jesy nods when Leigh-Anne whips around to look at her - she feels it, too - and they turn in slow circles, looking at everyone nearby.

Jesy spots her first, catching Leigh's hand and squeezing tight when she points her out. She's lovely. long hair and Bambi eyes and a very familiar shade of lipstick on her pretty mouth. Jesy moves toward her, tugging Leigh-Anne along. "I love your lipstick!" she shouts when they're close enough to be heard.

The girl laughs. "Thank you!"

Leigh leans in close and follows her instincts. "Do you think the pink gives the spell a bit more punch?"

The girl's eyes go wide for a moment, then soften. She smiles. "It's got quite feminine energy, yeah? That's what I'm going for. Girls feeling good about themselves." Leigh-Anne nods thoughtfully. "You, too?" the girl asks.

"Both of us. She's Jesy. I'm Leigh-Anne."

The girl smiles again, and she's honestly so beautiful. "I'm Jade."

*

Jade goes out with the girls for a pub night, endless pints of cider and plates of chips to share between them. Thinking of Jesy and Leigh-Anne as _the girls_ feels right and completely natural, despite the fact that they've only known each other for a few weeks. She hasn't ever had friends that she's loved this much, this fast, not even Danielle and they live together.

Probably it's the witch thing.

She's fairly certain that three witches is enough for a coven. That's how she's thinking of them anyhow. They've done a few spells together since Leigh and Jesy tracked her down at the club; they shared a new moon ritual just a few days ago, coming together beneath the dark moon and each setting her own intentions. They're stronger together. Jade can feel it. 

She can't stop thinking about what else they might be able to do together.

Jade notices the girl across the bar as soon as she comes in. She's hard to miss, really, her blonde hair tipped with hot pink. She's with a guy - he's skinny and looks sort of bored - but Jade doesn't care about him at all. She can feel the girl's energy, hot and bright even across the room.

Jade looks at Jesy and Leigh-Anne, to see if they notice, but they're absorbed in an argument about whether chips are better with vinegar or mayonnaise. She glances back at the girl, watches her hang her jacket on the back of a chair before kissing the boy - her boyfriend? - on the cheek and disappearing down the hallway toward the loo. "I like ketchup sometimes," Jade volunteers, grinning when Leigh-Anne gives her an incredulous look and Jesy scoffs.

Jade forgets about the girl a bit, caught up in her conversation with the girls. They're new friends, the three of them, so there's plenty to talk about. She loves hearing about Jesy's work, the art and the way she weaves her magic into it, and the silly stuff, like the flatmate who would eat her practice oranges even when she went too deep and the juicy flesh was stained black with ink. Leigh-Anne's passion for her job at a nursery is beautiful and endearing, and she's full of hilarious stories about the children she works with. And they both listen to Jade in a way that she's not entirely used to; they listen to her like they understand.

Jade volunteers to go to the bar for another round. She's waiting for the barmaid to finish up with another customer, fiddling with a straw and reading through the list of beers they have on tap when someone comes up beside her. "Hey." When she turns, it's the skinny boy who came in with the pink-haired girl. He still looks bored, leaning his weight against the bar lazily.

"Hi," she replies, dismissive. She can see where this is going.

"Having a good night?"

"I am, yeah."

He's trying to chat her up, the sleazeball. "You're beautiful."

Jade feels herself scowl. "So's your date," she snaps. "I hope you told her so."

She fills the girls in when she gets back to the table. "Scum," Leigh-Anne declares.

"He's an arsehole," Jesy agrees. "I should hex him."

"We could test him," Jade suggests. She hates the idea of this girl, this beautiful girl with hot pink hair and bright hot energy - magic - thrumming in the air, going home with such a jerk. "See if he's thick enough to hit on one of you."

"Then we can hex him?"

"Not nice," Leigh-Anne says mildly.

"I think we've enough good karma built up to withstand hexing some prick," Jesy says. "And besides, we'd be helping that girl." Jesy's eyes go a bit wide as she focuses on the girl for the first time and feels what Jade's been feeling since she came in. "D'you feel that?"

Jade nods. Leigh-Anne hums, somewhat disapproving. "I'm going to the loo," she says, pushing away from the table.

"Do you think she's mad at us?" Jade asks once she's gone.

"Maybe," Jesy allows. "We haven't done anything yet. We don't have to."

Jade sighs, slumping in her seat. She glances across the bar and sees the girl sitting alone at her table, tapping away on her phone.

A few minutes later, Leigh-Anne returns, her face stony. "He hit on me," she announces, standing beside their table. "That jerk hit on me outside of the toilets."

"Arsehole," Jesy declares again.

Leigh stands for a moment, thinking, then announces, "I'm going to tell his date what he did," and goes marching across the pub.

"Oh, fuck," Jesy swears, up out of her chair and following behind Leigh-Anne with Jade on her heels.

"The skinny bloke, is he your boyfriend?" Leigh is asking when they catch up.

"Sort of," the girl answers, looking at each of them in turn. "Has he done something?"

"He hit on me outside the loos just now," Leigh-Anne tells her, "and he tried to chat up Jade at the bar earlier." Jade nods when the girl looks at her. "I thought you should know, so you could decide the best way to handle it."

"Thank you," the girl says, standing up. "I think I know exactly how to handle it."

It's really very convenient that the boy comes walking up right then, looking between the three of them with an obnoxiously self-satisfied look on his face. "What's this then?"

Without warning, the girl slaps him across the face, hard, the sound of her palm against his cheek cracking sharply through the room. There's more behind it than just momentum, the energy of a hex crackling along with it. Jade feels her mouth drop open. "You're a prick, and I'm done." She looks at the girls; Jesy is openly laughing. "D'you mind if I join you lot?"

"Not at all," Leigh-Anne says quickly, the most composed of the three of them. "Please."

"Great." She looks back at the boy. "And you're picking up the bill for all this," she says, gesturing at the remains of food on the table she just stood up from. 

"That was fucking brilliant," Jesy hisses as they cross back to their table. 

The girl laughs. "Thanks. He's a dick, and I knew it. I guess I just needed a push to do something about it." She settles into the seat beside Jade's. "I'm Perrie, by the way."

There are introductions all around, and then Leigh-Anne says, "Jesy wanted to hex him, but it was better to watch you do it."

Perrie goes still, and Leigh-Anne gives Jade a panicked look. "You are a witch," Jade says, not quite a question. "We can feel your magic."

Perrie blinks her big, bright blue eyes at them. "I-- Yes, I mean. Just barely," she finally manages. "The only real magic I've managed is charming my hair different colors. I didn't even know I _could_ hex someone."

"Oh, you can absolutely hex someone," Jesy says, her smile nearly vicious. There's a whole world of power in this girl that she hasn't tapped into yet. "You just did, but we can help you learn to do it on purpose, if you want."

"You're all witches?" The girls nod, and Jade swears she can feel something shift, something that brings them all closer together. "That's fucking brilliant."

*

Despite the way that they met, the first magic they do together isn't hexing Perrie's arsehole ex-boyfriend. No, their first magic is for good, magic meant to bring them all together properly.

They gather in the back garden of the little house Jade shares with Danielle, the four of them in a circle around a little fire that Perrie ignites with a word and a gesture of her hand, Latin learned from Jade, the instinctive gesture perfected by Leigh-Anne's careful critiques. They've all had things to teach each other since they met, some things small and inconsequential, but always more. They're good at different things, each of them, and Perrie can tell already that they're better together.

They each light a white pillar candle from the fire in the middle, each girl passing her candle to the girl on her left before setting it into the bowl of water they each have before them. They join their hands, closing their circle.

"Bless us," Jesy begins, speaking softly. "Bless us as we come here together, our first ritual as a coven."

"Bless us," Leigh-Anne picks up. "Bless us as we practice magic and grow in our craft, honoring the earth and the world around us."

"Bless us," Jade goes on. "Bless us as we find our way as individuals, both in witchcraft and without." 

"Bless us. Bless us as we find our way as friends, brought together by magic, but bonded by love," Perrie finishes.

"We come together as a coven," Jesy says, "and invoke air."

"And fire," Perrie says.

"And water," Leigh-Anne says.

"And earth," Jade says. "As the elements exist in harmony, allow us to exist in harmony as well."

"Bless us," they all say together, just once, before they blow our their candles. There's a long moment of quiet in which Perrie can _feel_ the new connection between them, like gossamer strands going from the base of her throat to each of the girls, and then Jade starts to giggle, squeezing Perrie's hand hard before flopping back in the grass.

"God, I love magic," she sighs.

**Author's Note:**

> Briefly: The witchcraft depicted in this fic is cobbled together from a huge range of sources and as such is not meant to be a representation of the practices of modern witches.
> 
> [tumblr](http://accidentalambivalence.tumblr.com/).


End file.
